[stylist] Donna, Robert, Computer experts, help, and other four letter words

Mon Jul 21 00:39:03 UTC 2014

Jackie, don't worry about wasting people's time helping you. It's not wasting our time. It's getting a chance to help a fellow writer succeed. (And some of us get to learn a thing or two, also.)
Barbara

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 20, 2014, at 7:02 PM, "Robert Leslie Newman via stylist" <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Jacky I think I just figured it out for you:
> (I have Windows 7, Office 2010, and JAWS 14)
> 
> Try this:
> 
> #1 Get into Word.
> #2 To turn the virtual ribbon on or off- press insert V  (This gives you an
> edit box, where you can search for various JAWS options and change them) but
> just read and do the next few steps 
> #3 When after you do the above alt V, and are at the edit/search box, type
> these three letters v I r (just the letters and not the spaces I put between
> them)
> #4 After you type in v I r, you will find that the option "Virtual Ribbon"
> has come up, and it will either say "Virtual Ribbon on" or "Virtual Ribbon
> off" 
> #5 for your hot keys to work, the ones you gave us, you want Virtual Ribbon
> to be off. 
> #6 If when "Virtual Ribbon" comes up, and says that it is on, then to turn
> it off, press the spacebar once to toggle it off, and then press enter to
> save it.
> 
> When I have the virtual ribbon off, and press alt, n, then n, u, I am placed
> in the submenu for page numbering. 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jackie
> Williams via stylist
> Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 6:03 PM
> To: 'Applebutter Hill'
> Cc: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Donna, Robert, Computer experts, help, and other four
> letter words
> 
> Donna and all,
> I have wondered about the virtual ribbon. The instructor  I hired said she
> installed it. She also put in some directions for it. AT some point she
> changed it saying  I could handle the regular. But I have typed all of these
> instructions. She said they would work on either one. 
> Then the state instructor said that he was individualizing it for various
> operations because of some of my prior knowledge, and some big gaps. 
> The result is that I do not know which settings all of my little notes on
> hot keys work or not, and I still have a terrible time with making them
> work. An instance, for page numbering, Alt, N, then N U. It is supposed to
> bring up that menu that I can open. It does nothing.
> Both instructors went through and changed many individual settings I am
> tempted to now change it back to virtual ribbon. My question is: Will it
> change back to the original settings before they were changed by anyone, or
> will it be the virtual ribbon with some of the settings still changed?
> Will I find the complete list of settings under options in the JAWS menu? I
> know you do not have time for this, but it looks like I am on my own with
> this.   When he left last week, he said that perhaps I had trouble with my
> motherboard, or my sound card, and that perhaps because I had not used it
> for two years except for installing the software by Cox, after buying it, it
> had deteriorated. He also said that JAWS 15 should not have been installed
> with Microsoft 7, for it was geared to 8.  Also that Freedom Scientific
> could not keep up with the fixes for my combination, and that is why my
> attachments will not open. He said JAWS was not installed properly, and
> since 13 and 15 were still on my computer, and the older one not removed
> first, He could no longer hope to reinstall it and get a pure result. It
> goes on and on. If I hire anyone else at my own cost, I go broke. I waited 8
> months to be approved by the state. Now he does not want to return until I
> get my computer fixed. 
> Right now, I have to get a line count for all of my poetry before
> submission, and Alt, R, then W does not work for the word count. It goes on
> and on.
> Still, I will get twenty poems ready to post by next Friday when I have a
> driver hired.
> 
> Jackie Lee
> 
> Time is the school in which we learn.
> Computers are the fires in which we burn.
> After Delmore Schwartz     
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Applebutter Hill [mailto:applebutterhill at gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 3:18 PM
> To: 'Jackie Williams'
> Subject: RE: [stylist] Authors & Marketing: Sensitive Introvert to Shameless
> Hawker - Abandoning Erroneous Expectations
> 
> Hi Jackie,
> Thank you so much for all of your observations and support. I'm sorry you're
> having such trouble with Jaws. Sounds like your instructor might have messed
> something up. If Jaws isn't reading the ribbons, the setting for Virtual
> Ribbons in the Settings Center may have gotten unchecked. If you want to
> check, go to the Jaws window, alt+f and right arrow to the utility menu and
> down arrow to Settings Center. It opens on a search field, so type in
> "virtual ribbon" and enter. Down arrow to the results (I only had one), and
> it should say "Use virtual ribbon checkbox ... Either checked or unchecked.
> If it's unchecked, use the spacebar to check it, tab twice to OK and
> spacebar to confirm the change. If that's not it, I'm at a loss.
> 
> Yes, the whole marketing thing is a major drain on my time and creativity,
> and I appreciate you saying that you almost resent my having to spend so
> much effort on it instead of just writing. That's the way it is though and
> it's good to know that low percentages of success is the norm in sales. I
> admit that I am not very good at deliberately setting aside time to just
> write. That should be my challenge going forward. I'm trying to blog once a
> week, so that's something, though it's still part of the marketing formula.
> 
> I'm also glad you wrote in, because I was beginning to think the post didn't
> go through. I guess there just isn't much interest on this list.
> Best of luck with getting your poems together and dealing with all of the
> technical stuff.
> Donna
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jackie Williams [mailto:jackieleepoet at cox.net]
> Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 4:02 PM
> To: 'Applebutter Hill'; 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: RE: [stylist] Authors & Marketing: Sensitive Introvert to Shameless
> Hawker - Abandoning Erroneous Expectations
> 
> Donna,
> I opened the link in your e-mail and heard the entire website excluding the
> cloud of music. I just get overwhelmed, and my computer has a mini-crash
> whenever I do something unusual. I found your article most fascinating and
> it was particularly interesting in the percentages of people needing at
> least 8 prompts of one kind or another to read a particular book, and other
> such research you presented.
> Every time I read a posting of yours,  I find more things about your life,
> the books and articles you have already written, and the hurdles you have
> surmounted to get where you are.
> Although I am approaching page  200 in Apple Butter Hill, I have had a
> series of setbacks  with my computer and the lessons I was supposed to get
> from D E S, I have been trying to get my entries ready for Minnesota, and
> JAWS simply does not work, or talk for the ribbon commands, and my teacher
> changed everything just before this happened.
> I took refuge in reading Catherine the Great which I could not put down for
> 26 long hours.
> Now, I am just trying to keep up with the list, and back at trying to get my
> poems ready with a seeing aide, and again looking forward to finishing "The
> Heart of Apple Butter Hill."
> I almost resent that you have to spend so much effort and time marketing
> instead of just writing what you want to anew. All of your efforts have
> benefited those of us who were not aware that now, no matter which way we
> choose to publication, we will have to be involved in the marketing.
> With my utmost gratitude and respect for your body of work.
> 
> Jackie
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Apple butter
> Hill via stylist
> Sent: Monday, July 14, 2014 8:18 AM
> To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
> Subject: [stylist] Authors & Marketing: Sensitive Introvert to Shameless
> Hawker - Abandoning Erroneous Expectations
> 
> Hi Friends,
> 
> I'm copying this post below just in case any of you are interested in
> self-marketing. At the end of the post, there is a Sound Cloud player with
> an accessible play button, but it doesn't translate to email. If you want to
> hear "The Rules of the Game" or leave a comment using the link to
> "Accessible Comment Form for Screen Reader Users," you will need to go to
> this link:
> 
> http://donnawhill.com/2014/07/14/authors-marketing-sensitive-introvert-to-sh
> ameless-hawker-abandoning-erroneous-expectations/
> 
> 
> 
> Enjoy,
> 
> Donna
> 
> ***
> 
> Authors & Marketing: Sensitive Introvert to Shameless Hawker - Abandoning
> Erroneous
> 
> 
> 
> So, you succumbed to that craziest of temptations and wrote a book. Now,
> whether you are one of the "lucky" ones who landed a publishing contract or
> you did it yourself, you're starting to realize that you're the one who has
> to do the marketing. The problem is that marketing is totally foreign to
> your innermost nature. There are lots of suggestions out there about
> building an online presence, developing niche markets, mastering SEO (search
> engine optimization) and snuggling up to industry professionals, but how do
> you get to a place where you're at least halfway comfortable doing that
> stuff?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The Writer's Mindset
> 
> 
> 
> Whether we're embroiled in research or lost in our private worlds conjuring
> up scenes and scenarios, the writer is motivated by a few simple principles,
> and truth is at the bottom of each of them. We stare into our characters,
> and using our accumulated understanding of humanity's flaws and foibles, we
> fashion plots and conversations that shed some light on something that
> matters to us.
> 
> 
> 
> When we're done, we want to show off our baby and have people coo about how
> beautiful it is. We've put so much of ourselves into our work that it takes
> a monumental effort to steel ourselves for criticism of even the most benign
> nature.
> 
> 
> 
> But, steel ourselves we must -- and not merely to function in the role of
> hearing out our critics. The truth is that getting the public to read our
> work is no easy task, and there has probably been little in our lives to
> prepare us for the realities of marketing. Some writers will feel like
> they're pimping out their child. Others will be easily discouraged by the
> lack of enthusiasm from a public that doesn't seem to care.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A Head's-Up
> 
> 
> 
> Here I am giving you advice, but who am I? Is my advice worth taking? First,
> I'm not a successful novelist -- not yet anyway. My book's been out a year,
> and for the first six months, I couldn't lift a finger to promote it. My
> husband was feeling terrible when The Heart of Applebutter Hill came out as
> an eBook, and mere weeks after the print edition hit the market, he was in a
> full-blown crisis of extreme and unmanageable pain.
> 
> 
> 
> I was in fulltime research and advocacy mode. Six months later after a
> myriad of complications and medical snafus, he was diagnosed and treated for
> Neuro-Lyme disease (Lyme of the central nervous system). He has permanent
> nerve damage. As of late November, I was able to start spending some time
> promoting the book.
> 
> 
> 
> I don't have an issue with doing my own marketing. I had a head start. Most
> of my career was spent as a singer-songwriter and recording artist. No
> booking agent wanted to take a chance on a blind woman, so early on I
> started doing my own booking and PR. I learned from my mistakes while
> working as a street performer in Philadelphia's Suburban Station, a
> center-city commuter train and subway hub. When they didn't want to assign a
> writer to cover my happenings, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other papers
> often published my press releases -- without any changes. That's still
> happening and I'm still grinning about it.
> 
> 
> 
> I also learned about motivation and sales from tape recorded programs from
> Nightingale Conant. The actual statistics may have changed, but the
> principles are the same. People don't generally buy something after hearing
> about it for the first time. The rule of thumb in the '80s was that it took
> eight times for the average buyer to respond to an unsolicited pitch. Sales
> is a matter of high volume and low percentages.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Failing Your way to Success
> 
> 
> 
> Most of us have at least twelve years of experience with schools, and we're
> used to the idea of success (aka grades) having something to do with
> percentages. To get an A, you probably needed 90%, and if you had less than
> 60%, you failed.
> 
> 
> 
> There are many things that require accuracy that borders on one hundred
> percent. It's not acceptable, for instance, for a surgeon to take out 90% of
> a cancerous tumor. Fittings for machinery have to come within tiny fractions
> of being perfect. To bring it closer to home, a book that has only 95% of
> its words spelled correctly isn't considered  to be properly edited or
> well-written.
> 
> 
> 
> With all of this totally reasonable obsession with perfection, it is
> understandable that writers are flummoxed by the results they get from
> everything from letters to their friends and families to paid
> advertisements. Coping with the realities of marketing requires that we
> abandon our preconceived and thoroughly vetted expectations about success.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> An Example & a Suggestion
> 
> 
> 
> When I started thinking about doing school assemblies, I wrote letters to
> the headmasters of twenty-five private schools in the Philadelphia area. 5
> of them hired me. Five is 20%. This was a targeted solicitation, so we'd
> expect higher percentages than something random, but 20% is still high. For
> random solicitations, I learned that even 5% was rare and cause for elation.
> 
> 
> 
> I built on that initial success by obtaining reference letters and including
> them in mailings to every school in the area. Now that I'm promoting my
> novel The Heart of Applebutter Hill, I use the same basic formula -- cast a
> wide net, rejoyce in small percentages, and use what you catch to create
> your next net.
> 
> 
> 
> So, take heart, recalibrate your expectations and power up with a shot of
> wisdom from "The Rules of the Game," a little song from <i>The Last
> Straw</i> that I wrote to nudge myself onward and upward.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- The Heart of Applebutter Hill - a novel on a mission:
> 
> http://DonnaWHill.com <http://donnawhill.com/>
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> 
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> 
> 
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